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Friday, September 23, 2011

What's Basbusa reading?

Mail Harry to the Moon has been a huge success in our house. While I was pregnant with the baby, and while she was a newborn, Basbusa and I must have read every picture book ever written about a first kid getting used to having a sibling. Basbusa wasn't terribly interested in any of them while I was pregnant, and even after the theoretical baby-sister became reality, she didn't seem to get much out of them. But Mail Harry to the Moon is just what we've been looking for. The book captures perfectly the kinds of things which Basbusa finds hardest to deal with in having a little sister - especially that someone ELSE now also gets to sit in Grandma's lap! - and the older toddler's reactions are so similar to Basbusa's own feelings that she was stunned into silence the first time we read it :) But the book is funny, and deals with the issues with a light touch. Basbusa also loves the way the older boy pretends the laundry basket is a rocket and zooms off to rescue his baby brother from the moon after all.

Who could possibly not love Chris van Dusen? His most recent book is King Hugo's Huge Ego, and Basbusa loves it. I hadn't planned on getting it for her, because, in the preview, it had seemed a bit too complex for a three-year-old. But I found it for half price at Borders' clearance sale, and it turns out that she enjoys it almost as much as Circus Ship and the Mr. Magee books. Chris van Dusen's books are by far the most fun read-alouds I've ever read, and this one is fantastic too. "Behold, my humble subjects, and do not doubt thine eyes,/ for yea, my noble noggin has increased tenfold in size. I know not how this happened, but now there's even more/ of your absolutely fabulous King Hugo to adore!" Too funny :) Plus, the illustrations are wonderful, with all kinds of details to talk about, and his books are just packed with complicated words that Basbusa loves to pick up. (The other day, she pointed to a tree with white bark, and said, "Look, Mama! The succulent sticks of the Great Northern Birch!" - a quote from another Van Dusen book :)

Basbusa picked out The Man Whose Name Was Not Thomas from the library mostly because the book itself is smallish, and she loves all things miniature. It turned out to be a very interesting read, because the text tells you what the man wasn't, and you have to look at the illustrations to figure out what he was. Basbusa enjoyed (first) guessing and (later) predicting what this man was going to do next, and it's a sweet, happy-ending story.

We got Trouble Gum because it was so highly recommended on Read-Aloud Thursday last week, but I was actually a bit skeptical when I glanced through it in the library. But after we got home, I heard Basbusa giggling to herself - she had gotten the stack of library books, was "reading" this one, and thought it was hilarious! (She was reading "Snap!" and "Pop!" all by herself, too, without our ever having gone through the book together, which was a nice surprise for me :) It's about two little piglets who just cannot resist playing with their gum, despite innumerable maternal warnings, and, unsurprisingly, gum gets everywhere. As Basbusa drifted off to sleep tonight, I heard her saying, "JULIUS!!!!" and giggling again, so I guess she was dreaming of flying, bubble-borne pigs.